Swiss lawmakers delay vote on FIFA prosecutor’s future

BERN, Switzerland (AP) — Swiss lawmakers have postponed a vote on whether to re-elect attorney general Michael Lauber, who is facing a disciplinary inquiry into his handling of a sweeping investigation of FIFA.

The Swiss parliament’s judicial commission was supposed to decide Wednesday whether to propose a new four-year term for Lauber but postponed the decision until September.

Lawmakers were due to vote next month on whether to end or extend Lauber’s mandate which began in January 2012.

The commission says it will avoid taking a view “in the current tense climate.”

Lauber is under scrutiny for an undeclared meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino in June 2017.

Federal prosecutors are in their fifth year of investigating suspected wrongdoing linked to international soccer officials and have opened 25 criminal proceedings. No charges have been filed.

Swiss prosecutors have shared evidence with the U.S. Department of Justice which has secured more than 40 guilty pleas, convictions and indictments in its sprawling, ongoing soccer investigation.

Lauber’s office says it “will continue to carry out its criminal proceedings in accordance with its statutory mandate.”